DOMINIC PRINCE
One gets a quick snapshot of Dominic Prince at the Dorset gamekeeper's cottage he inhabits at the weekend: exotic sheep outside, pheasant hanging inside the door, and a rack of good claret (mainly bought by friends). The carnivorous Prince, who writes this month about meat, is a former Sunday Times Prufrock diarist, acclaimed for exposing the Polly Peck scandal.
He has also been Sunday Express City editor and has made several films, including a biography of Lester Piggott.
HOWARD DAVIES
At the age of 48, Howard Davies has already held several positions that would have satisfied most people: head of the Audit Commission, director-general of the CBI, deputy governor of the Bank of England, now chairman of the FSA. Nor does he neglect family life: breakfast meetings are a no-no for Davies, who insists on taking the kids to school in the morning.
Despite this busy life, Davies found the time to review Lucy Kellaway's new book, Sense & Nonsense in the Office, which he says he enjoyed immensely.
RHYMER RIGBY
When not filling the pages of our 'Brain food' and 'Techknow' pages with indispensable business potpourri, MT section editor Rhymer Rigby turns his hand to writing features, this month about the booming personal fitness market. No stranger himself to treadmills, resistance machines and Lycra, Rigby has also written for Esquire and GQ and currently contributes to Arena. In his spare time, he likes to don a silly hat and roam the tropics (see pic) for the sheer sweaty joy of it all.
MARGARET EXLEY
Twenty years of consultancy on change management and communication was a solid preparation for Margaret Exley's column, 'First class coach'.
She adds that writing for MT is a pleasant change from producing formal reports for her corporate clients. To prove her commitment to effective team-working, there's nothing Exley enjoys more than a weekend spin on a tandem bicycle with her husband, or playing board games with her son and daughter at their weekend cottage in Sussex.
ROSS MCDONALD
Technologically speaking, US-based illustrator Ross McDonald is a man of the '90s - the 1890s, that is. He'll have no truck with iMacs when he can achieve remarkably similar effects with a pencil, so working with MT has involved faxes and real mail aplenty. Ross, a regular contributor to the New York Times and Washington Post, is tackling his IT antipathy.
He now has an e-mail account on his son's computer - which he checks every six weeks, whether he needs to or not.
KEVIN GASKELL
This issue's 'Techknow' section sees the debut of a new column, 'Net heads', in which the people responsible for their companies' web strategies give us their internet insights. First up is Kevin Gaskell, the managing director of BMW UK, who says the internet means businesses are doomed unless they recognise they are owned by their customers. Gaskell, who in spare time enjoys shooting clay targets and this year ventured up Mt Everest, has also managed UK divisions of Porsche and Lamborghini.
